SUFFERING AND RULERSHIP

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.
Copyright Š 973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan
Bible Publishers.

The demands Christ is making on His victorious saints are greater than
we have known previously. When the demands are presented to the Christians, other teachers
rise up and speak of how we are qualified for Heaven by the grace of God and we are to
rest in His mercy and redemption. It certainly is understandable that this objection
should be voiced.

The problem is, the teachers and believers who are holding out for the
"go to Heaven by grace" position do not understand that God is preparing rulers
and priests who will govern His creation with a rod of iron.

SUFFERING AND RULERSHIP

The demands Christ is making on His victorious saints are greater than
we have known previously. When the demands are presented to the Christians, other teachers
rise up and speak of how we are qualified for Heaven by the grace of God and we are to
rest in His mercy and redemption. It certainly is understandable that this objection
should be voiced.

The problem is, the teachers and believers who are holding out for the
"go to Heaven by grace" position do not understand the purpose of suffering, of
the need for enduring hardness, for iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern
obedience to the Father. They do not recognize the purpose for such painful transformation
when God's mercy and grace are sufficient to bring us to Heaven.

If God's plan were to bring us to Heaven to recline on our ivory bed,
having grapes popped into our mouth by servant girls, and if our ticket to such a paradise
were our acknowledgment of the theological truth concerning Jesus Christ, then those who
are calling the believers to cross-carrying obedience would rightfully be seen as
individuals with a need to be unhappy and to have everyone else unhappy.

But God's plan for us is not to recline on beds of ease while we are
served pies and cakes that can never make us fat. God is preparing rulers and priests who
will govern His creation with a rod of iron. The purpose of the fires and waters through
which He brings them is to create godly character that will enable them to rule
successfully.

This is why the call today is to arm ourselves with the willingness to
suffer as Christ suffered, to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

One of the aspects of salvation that really warps the thinking of God's
people is that of imputation, or imputed righteousness. In order to get us started on the
road to transformation into the moral image of Christ and entrance into untroubled rest in
the center of God's will, God has furnished us with a legal device known as imputation.

Imputation, or imputed righteousness, accomplishes three things for us:
it frees us from the authority of the requirements of the Law of Moses, it forgives our
sins of the past, and it forgives our sins of the present and future provided we follow
the Spirit of God instead of the desires of our flesh and soul. This last part is
often left out, leaving us with an incorrect understanding of redemption.

In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met
in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans
8:4—NIV)

Romans 8:1 states there is no condemnation resting on those who are in
Christ. This verse is often quoted. However its meaning is perverted.

It is presented as though once we have taken the four steps of
salvation we can never again come under Divine condemnation no matter what we do. This is
not what is it says, it is not what it means.

The verse says, "there is no condemnation resting on those who are
in Christ." It does not say there is no condemnation resting on those who have taken
the four steps of salvation.

To be "in Christ" is defined in verse four: "who do not
live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Such people are
rare today. This means that people who are not under Divine condemnation are a small
minority.

To be "without condemnation" means God is imputing or
ascribing righteousness to us. So we have the general attitude of Christians,
"There is no need for me to do anything because Christ has ascribed everything to me
apart from my behavior."

The truth is, the only thing that is ascribed to us is a legal
righteousness that holds only as long as we are not living according to the sinful nature
but according to the Spirit.

The formation of Christ in us is not ascribed to us or given to us
instantaneously and magically.

The fruit of the Spirit is not ascribed to us or given to us
instantaneously and magically.

Joy is not ascribed to us or formed in us instantaneously and
magically.

Conformation to the image of Christ and untroubled rest in the Father
are not ascribed to us or given to us instantaneously and magically.

As we said, the only thing ascribed to us is a legal righteousness that
covers us as long as we are walking in the light of God's Presence and will.

Now we come to rulership in the Kingdom of God. The authority to govern
and the ability to govern are not ascribed to us—cannot be ascribed to us or given to
us instantaneously or magically, not now, not when we die, not when the Lord appears.

The authority to govern is given, according to the clear Word of God,
as we actually, through the Lord Jesus Christ, overcome the problems presented in the
second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation.

The ability to govern, the rod of iron, is formed in us as we suffer.
Suffering burns the sin and self-will out of us. Suffering teaches us obedience to the
Father. Suffering enables us to partake of the Father's holiness and yields the peaceable
fruit of righteousness—actual righteousness, not imputed righteousness.

So we see that imputed righteousness is a legal maneuver of the Father
that enables us to commence and pursue the program that leads to moral transformation and
rest in the Father's will.

The horrific misunderstanding of our time is that imputed righteousness
is an alternative to the slow, painful process of moral transformation and rest in the
Father's will.

Everything is imputed to us, we think. The Kingdom is imputed to us.
Ruling with Christ is imputed to us. Paradise is imputed to us. Aren't we having fun in
the Son! Whoopee! Just think of the poor people of the Old Testament trying to live
righteously when everything has been imputed to us and all we have to do is wait until we
go to Heaven and have our mansion with our backyard full of diamonds.

Dear God in Heaven, how did we ever get ourselves into such a mess?
Will Christianity ever recover?

There are many promises in the Bible directed toward those whom God
brings through suffering. One of our favorites is as follows:

But now, this is what the LORD says—he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you
by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you
pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you
will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." (Isaiah 43:1,2—NIV)

Notice that God does not promise to prevent our passing through the
waters, the rivers, or the fire, but to keep us from drowning or being burnt up.

It is so important for us to understand the Divine pattern. God does
not remove us from the scene of danger but protects us in the midst of it.

Here is the problem of the teaching of the "pre-tribulation
rapture." The "rapture" is a doctrine of removal rather than of victory
throughout the circumstances.

Think of Noah and his family riding safely on the waters of judgment;
of Israel in the land of Goshen protected from the plagues; of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego in the furnace; of Daniel in the lions' den. There may be an instance in the
Scriptures where God carried people away from danger so they wouldn't be harmed, but I
can't think of any. Can you?

The promise is a thousand shall fall at our side and ten thousand at
our right hand, not that we will not be present during times of catastrophe. Our
protection is not Heaven but the wings of the almighty God.

John records the Lord saying, "My prayer is not that you take them
out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one." The Lord Jesus does
not pray that God will remove us from the scene of trouble but that He will protect us
from Satan and wicked people so they cannot harm us spiritually.

Someone traced to a Gnostic writing the idea that we would be removed
from trouble. No doubt Gnosticism is the source of the "removal doctrine"
because several other prominent errors in today's Christian teachings have been found to
be Gnostic. For example, the Gnostic is intent on making Heaven his home and stresses
leaving our evil flesh and residing in the spirit realm. The Christian should be intent on
gaining the resurrection from the dead and living in immortality on the earth. We have
been heavily infiltrated with Gnosticism without our realizing it.

If we view the Christian salvation as going to Heaven to
lie around
doing nothing, and the means of getting there as God's mercy and grace, then we are going
to see no purpose in suffering, in character transformation, in learning to stand in the
evil day. Why shouldn't God remove us from the earth before we are called on to suffer if
nothing is to be gained by painfully carrying our cross behind Christ?

The concept that Christians will never be called on to suffer is of
course ridiculous. Such unscriptural doctrine is a product of the easy life of Christians
in America. Actually no person in America, including Christians, is living an easy life.
The happy American is an image that exists only in the mind, promoted by the political
party in power at the time. There are numerous very unhappy American Christians in our
day. Are you one of them or has your life been a bed of roses?

The Scriptures teach us we must enter the Kingdom of God through much
tribulation. The Christians have suffered greatly throughout history and still are
suffering today.

The Christians who are called to rule with Jesus Christ will suffer in
this world. This is because the suffering creates the character rulers must possess if
they are to serve the Lord satisfactorily. Of special importance is the development of
stern obedience to God in those who will judge and govern mankind and the angels.
Character and obedience are not formed in us as we are carried to Heaven by grace and
mercy.

Notice the following:

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and
co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share
in his glory. (Romans 8:17—NIV)

It seems plain enough from the above verse that if we hope to share in
Christ's glory we must share in His sufferings. Christ and we are coming into our
inheritance together. We shall enter His joy. We must also share His sufferings. He
learned obedience through suffering. We must learn obedience through suffering. He was
brought low and was despised by people. We also must be brought low and despised by
people. He was rejected by the world. We must be rejected by the world. He was not of this
world. We are not of this world. The world hated Him and it will hate us if we are living
in intense interaction with Him.

In America today we are being taught that God intends to give
Christians every material blessing, in fact that we will become so rich the world will
have to borrow from us. What passage of the New Testament teaches this?

What is it going to take to bring us back to the Gospel of the Kingdom?

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18—NIV)

God's Glory will be revealed to the nations through us, at the
appearing of Christ and His saints. The glory and release of the earth will not come down
as rain from Heaven but from the wells of water being created in those who are willing to
accept God's dealings no matter how severe. The sufferings we are experiencing now are to
prepare us to be the rivers of life that will bring eternal life to the dead sea of
mankind.

We can endure all kinds of trials if we will keep our eye on the joy
that will be ours when we are able to bring righteousness and peace to the peoples of the
earth. We must set joy before us so we can keep in our minds and hearts that what we are
enduring now is not to be compared with the incomprehensible glory we shall experience in
the Day of Christ.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be
revealed. (Romans 8:19—NIV)

Notice that the creation is not waiting to go to Heaven, nor is it
waiting for Jesus to come, but for the sons of God to be revealed. The sons of God are
being prepared not only to bless the saved nations with the Holy Spirit, as the priests of
God, but also to judge and destroy wickedness and then to govern the nations.

And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and
to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom
and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." (Revelation
5:9,10—NIV)

"They will reign on the earth"! How can they reign on the
earth when they are lying around in their mansion in Heaven?

If the Christian church will ever accept the fact that we have been
purchased from every nation by the blood of Jesus Christ to reign on the earth, not to go
live in a mansion in Heaven, the greatest revival of all time will be here. We will escape
the teaching of Gnosticism (which has ruined the Gospel) and begin to press toward the
first resurrection and our role as governors of the earth.

Because we have been called to "reign on the earth" we have
to suffer. The American Christians tend to be silly, immature, pleasure-loving gossipers.
They are not all this way. There are many fine disciples in our day. But far too many of
the believers shun the idea of suffering. They have been pampered and coddled with the
reckless doctrine that God will keep them from suffering, a doctrine that defies history
as well as the Scriptures.

Stop and think. Is the typical Christian of our day, jumping up and
down next to his pew to prepare for the unscriptural "rapture," refusing to deny
himself, refusing to take up his cross, refusing to present his body a living sacrifice,
refusing to arm himself with a mind to suffer, refusing to endure hardness as a good
soldier of Jesus Christ, prepared to govern a nation such as Russia? Is such a lukewarm
professor of Christ prepared to govern one city of Russia? Is our dainty church attender
prepared to govern one village of Russia? Is our casual believer who refuses to repent of
his gossiping, coveting, and unforgiving spirit, who loves pleasure more than Christ, who
wants his ears tickled with teaching that makes little or no demands on him and yet
promises him the fullness of God's glory, able to bless and guide one Russian peasant?

Christian people often speak of "ruling and reigning"
(sic) with
Christ. Yet they reject the demands of Christ. They are living in a fantasy world. I think
the Christian fantasy world is close to its demise in America. I suspect catastrophic
trouble is on the way.

For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice,
but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will
be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the
children of God. (Romans 8:20,21—NIV)

Do you see why suffering is necessary? Here is a material creation that
at one time was Paradise on earth. Because of sin God withdrew Paradise and separated the
material forms of Adam and Eve (and all their descendants) from their inward spiritual
nature. All of nature was deprived of the Life of the Spirit of God.

God withdrew spiritual life and permitted corruption to enter His
creation in the hope one day the material universe, including the bodies of people, can be
liberated from the bondage of decay and futility and brought into the glorious freedom of
the children of God, the freedom of life in the Spirit.

But if God restores Paradise to the earth, spiritual life to the
creation, immortality to the bodies of people, what is to prevent a recurrence of the
original tragic rebellion?

The prevention is found in the creation of people who have been
transformed by the Substance and Virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ and who are instantly
obedient to God at all times. These will serve in future ages as a wall against sin and
rebellion.

If the plan of salvation were one of providing grace and mercy to
people and carrying them to Heaven when they die, no solution to the problem of rebellion
would occur. The saved people, the believers, have been forgiven, they realize they are
undeserving sinners and appreciate God's forbearance, and now they are looking forward to
living in a mansion and just enjoying their freedom from dread and pain.

This is how salvation is presented in our day. Can you see that rulers
of nations and cities are not created in this way? So our talk about "ruling and
reigning" with Christ is totally unrealistic. We are looking for a good time in the
spirit realm. We are not truly hoping to begin the work of bringing the creation into the
glorious freedom of the children of God. Am I correct in this?

How does God prepare us to govern? By bringing us through a rigorous
program of instruction and testing just as He did Joseph; just as He did Paul; just as He
did His own Son.

God makes rulers. He bring them through fire and water. He teaches them
of His fearsomeness, His love, His faithfulness.

There is only so much we can learn from reading words in a book. The
rest comes as we follow God through the rigors of discipleship. There is no other way.

We Christians are filled with the love of the world, the passions and
appetites of the flesh, and—worst of all—self-will. None of these attributes of
character is permitted in one of God's rulers. Every ruler must be delivered from looking
to the world for survival and security. Every ruler must be delivered from yielding to the
demands of his flesh, from lust, from anger, from covetousness, and from all the other
sinful compulsions that drive and tempt us. Every ruler must be delivered from exercising
his own will apart from the will of God.

These deliverances are not easy to achieve. They require that we obey
the commandments found in the New Testament, that we pray much, that we meditate
constantly in the Scriptures, that we assemble with fervent believers, that we stay in the
prison where God places us, that we confess our sins and turn away from them, that we flee
from temptation, that we count ourselves crucified with Christ and risen with Christ.

"Oh Brother Thompson this is too hard." The problem is not
that the Gospel is too hard it is that American Christians are too soft.

Think for a minute. Are you prepared to govern a group of self-seeking,
rebellious people such as we will find on earth during the thousand-year Kingdom Age? Do
you have the fortitude, the patience, the wisdom, the desire, to work with people? How
would you like to have been Moses, doing his best for people who responded by periodically
wanting to stone him? Is this what you really want, to rule with Christ?

Training for rulership includes much suffering, much patience, much
learning of obedience. You will go through many deep waters, many dark valleys, before God
deems you ready to be raised with Christ in the first resurrection, the resurrection of
the royal priesthood.

The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one
rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, He is like the light of
morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the
grass from the earth.’ (II Samuel 23:3,4—NIV)

Is this you? Do you think you are able to rule over men in
righteousness? Are you able to rule in the fear of God? How about today? Are you governing
successfully the kingdom God has given you? Are you "like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth"? Is this true of you?

If not, when do you think you will be prepared to rule with Christ? Do
you suppose at some point while you are being "raptured" you will be changed
from a lukewarm, casual follower of Christ to "the light of morning at sunrise on a
cloudless morning"?

You know, the Kingdom of God is coming to the earth. Christ and His
coheirs will actually govern the saved nations. Are you competent to do this at the
present time? If not, when do you suppose you will be transformed from what you are now
into one of God's rulers? Are you waiting for the ability to govern to be imputed to you
or given to you magically?

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil
will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
(Revelation 2:10—NIV)

Of the three deliverances all sons of God, all rulers, must experience,
from the spirit of the world, from the lusts of our flesh, and from self-will, the most
difficult is deliverance from self-will.

The Holy Spirit helps and guides us as we endeavor to leave the world,
take up our cross, and follow Jesus.

The wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit enable us to put to death the
appetites of the flesh.

In order to destroy self-will from us, the Spirit permits Satan to put
us into prison. Spiritual imprisonment is a place where your most intense desires are
denied for a season and you are compelled to continue in a situation you detest.

Only prolonged fires of suffering can burn the self-will and rebellion
out of us.

Human beings are deeply, essentially rebellious against God. This is
true of us as Christians until we carry our cross for the appointed season.

The earth is the crucible in which God's rulers are formed and refined.
Though He has come from eternity, even the Lord Jesus learned obedience to the Father by
the things He suffered. This tells us such perfected obedience cannot be created in the
spirit realm in an instant (as taught today) because Christ came from the spirit realm!

How deeply rebellion and self-will are implanted in the human
personality is illustrated by the fact that after one thousand years of the righteous rule
of Christ and His saints during the Kingdom Age, Satan still is able to lead the nations
in rebellion against God.

And will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the
earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand
on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of
God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
(Revelation 20:8,9—NIV)

The truth is, if you are not undergoing moral transformation today, if
you are not entering the rest of God, the perfect will of God for your life, you may never
do so. There will come no golden moment when you will be changed from what you are. Life
will continue until you find yourself old and perhaps bedridden, beginning to realize you
never did really become a new righteous creation in Christ. This is what happens to most
believers.

I do not say you will be cast into the Lake of Fire but I certainly do
declare that you are not competent to rule with Jesus Christ. You did not take advantage
of the training offered in the present life. You neglected your great salvation.

We know the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:22—NIV)

The material world is in travail waiting for the Kingdom of God to be
born. The creation is hoping to be released into the glorious liberty of the children of
God. The release of the creation will take place at the hands of the sons of God, sons
who, through Jesus Christ, have overcome the world, the lusts of their flesh, and their
self-will. These are the coheirs. They have suffered with Christ and they will rule with
Christ. No individual will rule with Christ until he or she has lived as a victorious
saint. The average churchgoer in America has no hope of attaining the first resurrection
or ruling with Christ. Not because God does not love him but because he is still a
spiritual baby.

What can you do about this? Go to God right now. Ask Him to lift from
you the spirit of blindness that abides on the Christian churches. Ask Him to open the
New Testament to you. Ask God to show you what He wants you to do. Flee from those who are
claiming "Jesus did it all" and your only task is to believe and wait for the
unscriptural "rapture."

Read the Bible and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Begin to obey what
the Bible says. When it tells you to present your body as a living sacrifice to God, then
do just that. When it tells you to endure hardness as a soldier of Jesus Christ, then do
just that. When the Bible tells you to remain faithful in the prison in which you have
been placed, denying yourself, faithfully performing duties for which you have no heart,
then do just that. Always pray that God will give you what you want, but wait for God to
do it. Don't wrench yourself out of your miserable circumstances before God's time,
injuring and betraying other people in your mad rush to make your own paradise out of this
cursed earth.

Call on God with all your might. Recognize that many American churches
are backslidden, lukewarm travesties of what God expects. Do not compare yourself with any
believer you know. Compare yourself with Paul's attitude in the third chapter of the Book
of Philippians.

God wants the standard raised in America today. Because of false
teaching in the Christian churches, the doctrine that we do not have to keep the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles because we are saved by grace, and the extension
of imputation far, far past its designated bounds, because of this erroneous teaching the
moral light of the churches has been nearly extinguished. Consequently our nation is
practicing abortion and homosexuality. People are worshiping money. Crime, violence,
drunkenness, and taking drugs are common. Sexual lust is a tremendous debilitating
sickness affecting many age groups.

A return to morality in our country depends entirely on the willingness
of American Christians to repent of their sins and return to the original Gospel of the
Kingdom. The secular realm will never recover until the Christian churches lead the way.

Do we really want to rule with Christ? Then we will have to lose our
life in Jesus Christ. Only then will we have developed in us the rod of iron, the scepter
of the Kingdom.

The rod of iron can be created in the human personality only as we
humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. We must patiently accept the fiery trials
He sends to transform us from rebellious, lustful souls to life-giving spirits who are
able to govern God's creation in love, righteousness, peace, and joy.